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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Hope Lies on Television #3 - Behind The Mask

This one was a week late because my original draft started to creep towards 3000 words and there was no sign of it ending, so I decided to start from scratch again and focus on specific examples rather than try to encompass the entire history of superheroes on television, which was what I unwittingly seemed to be trying to do with the first version. Whilst I'm sure there's a pretty good book to be found in that subject, it would have been real mess trying to cram it all into one column.

Anyway, this article came about when I noticed a confluence of TV related news to do with superhero shows either failing or being set up to fail. First up, The Cape was cancelled, which came as no surprise to anyone because it was a pretty silly show and not especially good show. Admittedly, I did enjoy the first few episodes I watched, but it was so garish and hurried that I kept expecting to develop migraines every time I watched it. Secondly, No Ordinary Family finished its first season with disappointing ratings and no confirmation on whether or not it would be picked up for a second, which is rarely good news for a freshman show. Finally, the first image from David E. Kelley's proposed new Wonder Woman show was released to howls of derisive laughter from more or less every corner of the internet. The combination of these three pieces of news made me realise just how little purchase superheroes have on television at a time when superhero films are pretty much unavoidable at the cinema, despite the fact that the serialised nature of comics seems such a natural fit for television.

Anyway, that was the idea that I was going for, though I'm not so sure that I managed it all that successfully. I don't think that the column is bad, and given the trouble I had writing it, it turned out pretty well, but I do feel as if the subject ran away with me a bit on this one. Oh well, you live and you learn.